Barring an Omen, Thing, or Ring of Some Sort, Jesuit and Franklinton Kick Off at 7 PM

After the Shaw game, the Blue Jays and Coach Mark Songy bow their heads in prayer.

View the Photo Gallery of the Jesuit – Shaw Game

The eve of Halloween ushers in fright night, and the Blue Jays have a spirited date with Demons. It’s Week 9 and what a scream it should be!

The Jays will board three charter busses Friday afternoon, Oct. 30, and head north by northwest. The fog should not be a problem on the Causeway. Final destination for the Blue Jays? Demon Stadium at Franklinton High School, where there’s bound to be some hocus pocus amongst the trick or treaters.

Jesuit and Franklinton will kick off at 7 p.m. in what is expected to be a tough non-district game for both squads. The Jays and the Demons are playing each other for only the third time. Jesuit won the two previous games: 2011 (40-6) and 2012 (35-3).

Connor Prouet scored three touchdowns against Shaw last week.

In Week 8, the Jays took the shining to Shaw, 42-6, snapping a four game losing streak. The Jays are 3-5 overall and 1-4 in district. Last week, Franklinton flushed Lakeshore, 41-7, winning a fourth consecutive game and putting them at or very near the top of District 8-4A.

Jesuit head coach Mark Songy said the Demons (6-2) are talented, well-coached, and experienced.

“They have a number of athletes they like to spread the ball to and they run about 60% of the time,” he said. “They’re pretty balanced and explosive. They remind me a lot like a combination of the best between Warren Easton and McDonogh 35. I’ve watched Franklinton get better as the year goes on.”

The Demons own some impressive stats:

• Through Week 8, the offense has put up 264 points and the defense has allowed only 109 points.
• The Demons average 33 points a game; the 57 points they scored against Church Point four weeks ago was their highest output.
• Franklinton’s two losses were to Covington (14-6) in the first week of the season, and West Monroe (23-6) a few weeks later.

Some of Jesuit’s offensive highlights through Week 8:

• The Jays have 2,588 yards in total offense, including 1,352 rushing yards and 1,236 passing yards;
• The Jays have scored 179 points while their opponents scored 183 points;
• The Jays average 22 points a game;
• The 42 points scored last week against Shaw were the most so far this season;
• The Jays racked up 368 yards of offense against the Eagles while Jesuit’s defense was stubborn and stingy, limiting Shaw to 274 yards of total offense (144 rushing and 130 yards passing).
• Crew Jacobs kicked six PATs in the Shaw game; he has 23 extra points and four field goals this season.

On defense, these Jays have stood out in the first eight weeks:

• Linebacker Cameron Crozier, who has 60 solo tackles and 46 assisted tackles; he also has four pass deflections;
• Defensive back Mark Beebe with 24 solo tackles and 43 assisted; he’s also caused a fumble, recovered one fumble, deflected a pass, and snagged his first interception in the Shaw game;
• Defensive end Zack Robert with 25 solos and 33 assisted tackles; he also has five of the team’s 13 quarterback sacks; Crozier and Henry Moreau each have two sacks;
• Linebacker Jacob Baxter with 33 solo tackles and 22 assisted;
• Defensive back Patrick Spiers has 22 solos and 24 assisted tackles;
• Jakirai Wiley has 23 solo tackles and 22 assisted; he also has three deflections and one interception.

Crew Jacobs has to jump high to handle this punt.

A few highlights of Jesuit’s passing game through Week 8:

• Quarterback Peter Hontas has completed 96 of 180 passes (57%) for 1,236 yards and nine touchdowns;
• While Hontas has seven interceptions, his intended receivers have dropped 12 passes they should have caught;
• Kalija Lipscomb continues to be the “go to” receiver with 40 catches for 635 yards and five touchdowns; Lipscomb is usually double-teamed, and in a few instances, he’s surrounded by a trio of defenders;
• Hontas has been throwing to an array of Blue Jays, including wide receiver Malachi Hull, who has 16 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns;
• Bryce Musso has 11 receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns;
• Zach Young has 10 receptions for 89 yards.

Some of the features of the Blue Jays’ ground attack through Week 8:

• Running back Connor Prouet is enjoying a great season with 172 carries for 976 yards and 11 touchdowns, three of which were in the Shaw game.
• Unless this junior is caught in a scary movie, he’s sure to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in the Franklinton game; that’s right, Prouet is a junior;
• Kai Rozas, also a junior, has emerged with a helmet full of confidence. He enjoyed a breakout game against Shaw with eight carries for 94 yards and a touchdown, his first score of the season. In eight games, Rozas has 36 carries for 260 yards.
• In addition to his defensive back and punt return responsibilities, Jakirai Wiley has 12 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown.

“Kai is another player who’s getting better week by week,” said Coach Songy. “When he and Connor get into a nice rhythm, we alternate both of them, and good things happen.”

Nothing psycho about good things happening to the birds.